The Charlie Hebdo Terror Attack in Paris: Follow-up of French Citizens’ Terrorist Threat Perception and Its Aftermath <br/> [L’attaque Terroriste de Charlie Hebdo à Paris : Evolution temporelle de la Perception de la Menace Terroriste et de ses Conséquences auprès des Citoyens Français]

Abstract

Terrorism is one of the most frightful large-scale societal threats nowadays. The January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris shattered French's sense of security. The present research investigates French citizen's (N = 160) terrorist threat perception (personal vs. collective), behavioral changes, social sharing of emotions and perceived socioemotional climate using the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993). This study was conducted by a questionnaire at three points of time (i.e., one week, one month and two month) following the attack. The results suggest that terrorist threat perception has not decreased across time at the personal level nor at the collective level. However, the extent of social sharing of emotions and the positive socioemotional climate decreased from the initial emergency stage to the subsequent adaptation stage. Such findings point to the importance of taking temporality into account to provide better understanding of lay people's responses to terrorism.Keywords: Terrorism; threat perception; behavioral changes; social sharing of emotion; socioemotional climate Le terrorisme est l'une des menaces sociétales à grande échelle les plus effroyables de nos jours. L'attaque terroriste de Charlie Hebdo du 7 janvier 2015 à Paris a ébranlé le sentiment de sécurité des Français. La présente recherche examine la perception de la menace terroriste (personnelle vs. collective), les changements comportementaux, le partage social des émotions et le climat socio-émotionnel perçu auprès des citoyens français (N = 160) en se basant sur le modèle des étapes sociales de coping collectif avec les catastrophes (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993). Cette étude a été conduite par questionnaire à trois points temporels (c.-à-d., une semaine, un mois et deux mois) après l'attaque. Les résultats suggèrent que la perception de la menace terroriste n'a pas diminué à travers le temps, ni au niveau personnel, ni au niveau collectif. Toutefois, l'ampleur du partage social des émotions et du climat socio-émotionnel positif perçu a diminué entre la phase initiale d'urgence et la phase ultérieur d'adaptation. Ces résultats soulignent l'importance de la prise en compte de la temporalité pour une meilleure compréhension des réponses des personnes au terrorisme.

« Je suis Charlie » : New Findings on the Social and Political Psychology of Terrorism [« Je suis Charlie » : Nouvelles Avancées en Psychologie Sociale et Politique du Terrorisme]

“…Both the paper by Cohu, Maisonneuve and Testé (2016) and the one by Pelletier and Drozda-senkowska (2016) show how the use of an extended time frame can be useful. They report evidence based on repeated observations made over time so that one can grasp how things evolved.…”

Who were the « Charlie » in the Streets? A Socio-Political Approach of the January 11 Rallies [Qui étaient Les “Charlie” dans la rue ? Approche Socio-Politique des Rassemblements du 11 Janvier]

“…Their posters said "I am Charlie", "I am Jewish", "I am Muslim", "I am a cop", expressing solidarity with the murdered victims and attachment to freedom of expression (see Pelletier & Drozda-Senkowska, 2016). Few weeks later, however, other interpretations of the rallies took over.…”

Meaning-making and rumour-mongering in the shadow of terrorism: The case of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris

“…Finally, the adaptation phase takes place from six weeks onwards and entails a return to low levels of interpersonal sharing of experiences. In line with this model, a similar pattern of social sharing of emotionally charged information has been apparent over a two-month period in post-terrorist contexts (Pelletier & Drozda-Senkowska, 2016;Rimé et al, 2010). Although, temporality might affect also related meaning-making and rumour-mongering processes following a terrorist attack, the scientific literature has rarely explored the temporal perspective (for exceptions, see Bordia & Rosnow, 1998;Murphy, Johnson, & Lohan, 2003;Updegraff et al, 2008).…”

“…These different domains relate to basic human needs such as need for self-esteem, certainty, belongingness, and the need for symbolic immortality. Indeed, previous research conducted in post-terrorist contexts showed that laypeople experience greater concern for others, the loved ones especially (Bux & Coyne, 2009), and they also tend to spend more time with their family and friends following the terrorist attack (Goodwin, Willson, & Gaines, 2005;Huddy, Feldman, Capelos, & Provost, 2002;Pelletier & Drozda-Senkowska, 2016). Thus, the human beings' core affiliative tendencies and need for meaningful social bonds (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) could constitute one of the compensatory domains related to the threat of meaning in post-terrorist contexts.…”

“…The main findings evidence a similar temporal pattern in the results for civilians' searching for meaning following the terrorist attack that shows a progressive decrease over the two-month period. Such findings indicate that the social stage model of collective coping with disasters, which was initially designed to formalise the temporal dynamics of social sharing processes in the context of collective disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993) and later applied to post-terrorist contexts (Pelletier & Drozda-Senkowska, 2016;Rimé et al, 2010), might provide an ade-quate theoretical framework to clarify the temporal dynamics of the searching for meaning process within the context of societal trauma.…”